The Night The Bed Fell By James Thurber

James Thurber James Thurber was an American author and cartoonist. He was born Dec. 8, 1894, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.—died Nov. 2, 1961, New York, N.Y.. He is best known for his contributions to The New Yorker magazine. He was on The New Yorker staff from 1927 to 1933 and remained a consistent contribution thereafter. His cartoons became some of the most popular in America. By 1952, Thurber had to give up drawing because his failing eyesight had developed into full blindness. 

Background Although James Thurber ultimately pursued a dual career as a writer and cartoonist for the New Yorker. His first cartoon sketch appeared in the magazine in 1931. He focused on writing, but his drawings attracted the attention of a friend E.B. White, who encouraged Thurber to work on further illustrations. http://www.thurberhouse.org/james-thurber.html

CA Standards Reading 3.2 Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past present actions or foreshadows future actions. Language Conventions 1.3 Identify all parts of speech and types and structures of sentences Listening and Speaking Develop narrative presentations.

Story Background An early accident left writer and cartoonist James Thurber blind in first one eye and then both eyes. This loss of sight led him to develop his own readily identifiable style of simple line drawing. Like the cartoon above, many of his cartoons enhance the humor of the situations he describes.

Humorous Cartoons

Humorous Essay Humorous essays are brief works of nonfiction meant to amuse readers. In “The Night the Bed Fell,” James Thurber produces a humorous effect by contrasting the reality of a situation with the characters’ mistaken views of what is happening. Using an organizer like the one shown, record the different ideas characters have about events in “The Night the Bed Fell.”

Connecting Literary Elements One way writers create humor is through characterization Characters are the actors in the narrative Characterization is the process through which a writer develops a character A writer can develop a character through direct description, through the character’s actions, words or thoughts, or through the reaction of other characters.

The Following example shows characterization through a characters actions and thoughts Old Aunt Melissa Beal (who could whistle like a man with tow fingers in her mouth) suffered under the premonition that she was destined to die on South High Street… Look for other details used to develop characters in “The Night the Bed Fell.”

Identify Significant Events In any narrative, whether humorous or serious, there are significant events that move the action forward. Significant events reveal new information, causes other events, change the way a character acts or thinks, or settle a question or problem. Use the following questions as you read. What is the first event that sets the other events in motion? What is one event that increases the misunderstanding? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFX8q_DVIOQ